striderfandomcom-20200213-history
Strider (2014)/Reception
Hailed as a successful remake of an old classic in a similar vein to Bionic Commando: Rearmed, Double Helix's Strider reimagining is often praised for its faithfulness to the core principles and atmosphere of the original game and Strider 2, maintaining their tight and responsive controls and total freedom of movement, and for the integration of the exploratory elements to the original formula. On the other hand, it's mostly critizised for its little variety in environments and color palette, decreased and unbalanced difficulty and a general formulaic or "risk-free" approach to its gameplay and set pieces. The game has received a mostly positive reception from critics and fans alike, with the PlayStation 4 version taking first place in North America's February sales chartDunning, Jason (March 10, 2014). "February 2014 PSN Sales Charts in North America Have Strider at #1 on PS4". playstationlifestyle.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014 and 10th in the March sales chartMassongill, Justin (April 08, 2014). "PlayStation Store Top Sellers: March 2014". Official PlayStation Blog. Retrieved July 13, 2014. Strider also reached Top 20 in its first two months in Europe, ranking 5th in February and 16th in March. Dutton, Fred(April 08, 2014). "PlayStation Store charts, March: InFAMOUS Second Son powers to #1". Official PlayStation Blog Europe. Retrieved July 13, 2014 Critical Reception Strider has received a mostly positive reception. Joystiq awared the game a 4/5 stars, lamenting the game's lack of challenge which weighed the whole experience down, but stating these were minor issues overcome by the game's "absorbing fusion of action and platforming" and rewarding focus on exploration, referring to it as a successful ressurection of a long-forgotten franchiseCavalli, Earnest (February 18, 2014). "Strider review: Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go". joystiq.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014. GamesRadar gave it a score of 4.5 of 5 stars, noting it was "a slick pastiche of '80s retro cool and modern gameplay" as well as "both faithful to its source material and still capable of finding its own identity"Roberts, David (February 18, 2014). "Strider Review". gamesradar.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014. Polygon gave the game a 8.5, describing it as managing "to balance a sense of its history with the push for modernization", nailing the basic second-to-second thrill of being "the ultimate ninja badass" and that it captured the "wide-eyed exploration of 8-bit adventures" and married it to "razor-sharp side-scrolling combat".Gies, Arthur (February 18, 2014). "Strider Review: Running Man". polygon.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014 Edge Online gave the game a 7/10, stating it to be "a sensitive update for a series many thought would stay stuck in the past"Edge Staff (February 18, 2014). "Strider review". edge-online.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014. Eurogamer scored it with a 7/10, citing it to be a competent, workable game which drew inspiration from the right places, but which ultimately failed to stand out among other Metroidvania-style games and was rarely anything but "a cover version of the greats". He also noted the varied quality of boss battles and the "samey" looks of each area as negativesParkin, Simmon (February 18, 2014). "Strider review". eurogamer.net. Retrieved May 27, 2014. IGN gave it a 7.5 score noting that, while Double Helix had a firm grasp on the essence of the joy of movement that makes Strider Hiryu such a great character, its slightly unbalanced design, mostly in terms of enviromental variety and boss battles, held it back from being a genuine classic.Ogilvie, Tristan (February 18, 2014). "Strider Review: Style Over Substance". ign.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014 Strider made Kotaku's list of the 12 Best Games for both PlayStation 4Kotaku Staff (April 14, 2014). "The Best Games For The PlayStation 4". kotaku.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014 and XBox OneKotaku Staff (April 17, 2014). "The Best Games For The Xbox One". kotaku.com. Retrieved May 27, 2014 and ranked #6 in the "Top 10 Things We Love This Week" Must List from the February 2014 issue of Entertainment Weekly. It was also listed as one of the top 50 games of 2014 by Game InformerBrian (February 2, 2015). "Game Informer ranks the top 50 games of 2014". Nintendoeverything.com. Retrieved February 03, 2015., and its soundtrack was named "Best Video Game Soundtrack Of 2014" by Sumthing.comGeno, Anthony (January 8, 2015). "Pound For Pound, The Long-Playing Standing Ovation: Geno’s Top 4 Video Game Soundtracks Of 2014". Sumthing.com. Retrieved February 03, 2015.. In July 2015, Game Informer listed Strider among a top ten list of the best "non-Metroid" Metroid style gamesReeves, Ben (July 3, 2015). "Ten Metroid-Like Games To Play While Waiting For Samus’ Return". GameInformer. Retrieved November 04, 2015. In 2016, ScrewAttack listed Strider 8th in its "Top 10 Capcom Games" listStaff (January 1, 2016). ScrewAttack's Top 10 Capcom Games. ScrewAttack Youtube channel. Accessed February 17, 2016, while GamesRadar included it in its list of the 15 greatest reboots on the history of the XboxSykes, Tom (November 9, 2016). "The 15 greatest reboots in the history of Xbox". gamesradar.com. Retrieved November 24, 2016 and Rock, Paper, Shotgun included it in its 2017 list of the 14 best Metroidvania games on PCWalker, John (December 31, 2017). "The 14 Best Metroidvania Games On PC" (English). rockpapershotgun.com. Retrieved January 01, 2018. In 2019, The Gamer ranked Strider 10th in its top 10 modern side-scrollers listDrake, Jeff (June 20, 2019). "The 10 Best Modern Side-Scrollers, Ranked" (English). Thegamer.com. Accessed June 20, 2019 and 8th in its list of the 10 best games with ninja protagonistsDrake, Jeff (August 14, 2019). "The 10 Best Games That Let You Play As A Ninja" (English). Thegamer.com. Accessed August 17, 2019, while GameSpew listed it as one of the best Metroidvanias in the PlayStation 4.Seagrave, Richard (September 11, 2019). "The Best Metroidvania Games on PS4" (English). gamespew.com. Accessed September 13, 2019 In Japan, the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 versions of Strider were reviewed by Famitsu in its February issue, receiving individual reviewer scores of 9/8/8/9 for a total score of 34/40Romano, Sal (February 12, 2014). "Famitsu Review Scores: Issue 1315". gematsu.com. Retrieved May 30, 2014. The PlayStation 4 version of Strider also ranked #16 in PlayStation Japan's list of the 20 most downloaded PS4 titles of 2014.Dunning, Jason (January 9, 2015). "PlayStation Japan Reveals Top 20 Most Downloaded PS4, PS3 & PS Vita Games in 2014". PlayStationLifeStyle.net. Retrieved February 03, 2015 References Category:Subpages Category:Strider (2014) Subpages